Arsenal boss Arteta says he has not gotten over UEFA Champions League final loss to PSG

Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal will face Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League 2026-27 league phase on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta admitted that he has not yet gotten over the heartbreak of last season’s UEFA Champions League final defeat against Paris Saint-Germain.

The Gunners led the final and then conceded a second-half equaliser before losing on penalties.

“I’ve tried, but I haven’t managed,” Arteta told reporters on Tuesday when asked if his side was over the defeat.

“That’s the reality. So I tried for many weeks during the summer, but even today, when I see the ball, when I (hear) the music, when I see the scenes, I want it so badly. We know that we have to go step by step, but I think that’s fired up the team, and all of us individually, because we know that because of a penalty, we are not the champions of Europe. So, yeah, let’s try again, ” he said.

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Arsenal is set to face a short-staffed Bayern Munich on Wednesday in Munich, with the German giant set to enter the pitch without suspended Michael Olise and the injured Jamal Musiala. Moreover, doubts linger over the availability of head coach Vincent Kompany and senior figures Manuel Neuer and Joshua Kimmich.

Arteta noted that he was hopng to face the best version of Bayern to test Arsenal’s mettle in the top-tier of European football.

“You want to face the best players in these kind of games and duke it out with the best in the world,” he said.

“First of all, as a team, you see how incredibly well coached they are, the mindset that they have, the conviction that they have in their reaction, and then in real quality moments that they can produce throughout the games, when we look at the goals and chances that they generate,” Arteta added.

Speaking about Bayern’s star striker Harry Kane, Arteta said that the former Tottenham Hotspur man was “something else, on another level”. However, he added that he trusted his defence to take care of Kane on Wednesday.

“They get tested a lot in the Premier League and they’ve already done it in the Champions League,” Arteta said.